Falling Away from me
by LuminaChan
Summary: Winry's been raped. Raped in a semi violent way. Her innocence stolen, she worries that no one will ever love her again, especially the person she believes raped her. Rape, self mutilation, EdWin
1. Enticement

Lumina- This is my first challenge pairing, picked randomly, with a random title. If you can tell me who sings Falling Away from me, Kudos to you! And this is rated M for a reason, people!

Disclaimer- I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist... If only I did, then there would be a lot of randomness... They wouldn't sell it to me anyways.

Warnings- The only thing I really have to warn you about in this chapter is a rape scene. Yes people, this early on.

Chapter 1- Enticement

**Flashback**

It was a warm, summer day, and most people were out and about in Central, doing their shopping, having fun, and just plain going about there own business. This was also true of Winry, who was looking through plenty of old stores for the proper tools to be used in furthering her automail business. Ed and Al walked along behind her, both with their long, blond hair tied back, Ed's in a braid, Al's in a ponytail, as they took in their surroundings.

Al was pretty weighted down with bags from Winry's shopping spree of the day, but he didn't complain. Ed on the other hand, who had about fifty more bags in his hands, wouldn't shut up. Winry was beginning to get a little ticked off. "Come on Winry! Just a teensy little br..."

"Don't tell me you're wimping out already, Edward," Winry replied, hoping to provoke the young alchemist. Possibly, this could keep him going, trying to prove himself to the blond in front of him, who was in fact the one giving him all the orders... He opened his mouth to respond, but didn't get far as Winry pointed out another store. "Oh look! They're having a sale today!" Al just about dropped the bags from the sudden statement, and regained himself as he followed both Ed and Winry over to the other side of the street. This was no easy task, as the roads were packed with other people, shopping and going about their ways.

"Hey Winry, don't you think maybe you already have enough items for one day?" Al asked, setting the bags down on the ground and plopping down on a bench, which was, quite luckily, empty. Edward did the same and joined his brother.

"Are you kidding me! There's so much stuff here! Do you have any idea how lucky I am to be in Central? I never get to come here!" Without Ed and Al, she dissapeared into the store, or at least into the large crowd of people. The building was small enough that had she been the only one inside, the Elric brothers would have been able to keep track of her.

It was another ten minutes before she reappeared next to Edward and Alphonse, holding three more bags, probably filled to the brim with heavy objects such as wrenches or screw drivers. When Ed looked up and saw this, he practically exploaded. "Jesus, Winry! How much do you think I can hold!" Winry's face fell, but only for a second as she regained her lost composure, and shoved all three of the bags into Al's hands. He flinched.

"If you won't hold them for me, I'm sure Al will." She looked at Al questionably, who was staring back at her with almost the same look on his face. She gave him a large smile. He imediately sighed and picked up the other three bags, looking like he was about to topple over at any given second. Still, Winry looked pleased with herself, and gave Ed a look of 'See, I told you so.'

They continued about their way, until they reached a large looking store, filled with more mechanics for Winry to stare at. Ed knew exactly what was coming. "You guys, can we go in here? Pretty please..." Ed was tempted to say no, but he also knew it wouldn't do him any good, so he sighed, and motioned for his younger brother to follow the blonde girl inside.

It was packed with people, and as Winry jumped around to random corners and ends of the store, Ed and Al soon lost sight of the automail mechanic. "I've had just about enough of this..." Ed announced, setting the bags onto the ground and looking around for wherever Winry had ended up at.

"Let's just... Keep looking." And so they did. Winry meanwhile, on the other end of the store, figured the Elrics hadn't followed her inside, and thus walked out the back door, prepared to walk around to the front, looking for the two brothers. What she saw however, was not a way around to the front of the store, but a back alley. Wonderful, she thought to herself, looking around to see if there was a gate leading back to the streets of Central. There was nothing. She sighed to herself, and turned around, ready to go back into the large group of people blocking her from the Elric brothers.

The door however, was locked.

"That's strange... I just came through here." With no other way to go, Winry wandered further down the alleyway. Maybe there would be a connecting path at the end that would allow her back into the streets. But at the end, there was still nothing. "What..." She turned around again, going back towards the door, but before she could turn the corner, something, or rather someone, stopped her. There was Ed, standing, leaning against the corner with his flesh arm holding him up. "Oh thank God. Did you come through that door, too?" Ed never answered, instead walking towards Winry with a strange look in his eyes. The look of want. "Edward...?"

Ed said nothing. He didn't even act as though he'd heard a single thing she'd just said. Instead, he pinned her against the wall, forcing her backwards as she screamed. "Ed, what the hell are you doing! Ed!" She was practically screaming her lungs out, or at least until Ed forced his lips onto hers. When he pulled off, she looked at him cautiously, wondering if he was opening up to her or something, but that was only until...

**Whack!**

Winry hit the ground, bleeding from her mouth, which now had a scrape next to it. She looked up the blond alchemist standing above her, who was staring down at her with a smirk plastered on his face. Kneeling down, he kissed her again, this time placing his tongue in her mouth against her will. She tried pushing him off, but only managed to get his mouth away from hers. She screamed again.

"Shut up," Ed hissed, smacking her across the face, giving her a bruise on her cheek this time. "Or you'll only make this harder on yourself."

She cringed when she felt him lifting her skirt up, pulling down the undergarment, and then... Winry held back the screams when he entered her, forever shattering the innocence that had been there just a few seconds ago. Tears streamed from her eyes when he finally came into her, pulled out, still smirking, and stood up, looking down at her with triumph spelt across his face in bold.

"Now be a good little girl and don't tell anyone. If you do, I'll _kill you."_ Just to prove his point, Ed lifted his automail leg back, and kicked out as hard as he could, hitting her almost squarely in the forehead and knocking her out. He retreated as the young blond girl lay there, bleeding and crying at the same time.

Back inside of the building, the Elric brother's continued to look around for their female friend, who'd been gone for at least a good hour by now. "I'm getting really sick of her bullshit. Honestly, why do you listen to her!" Ed asked his younger brother, who shrugged as they walked past the door Winry had earlier exited from. "Let's go ask the clerk..." Al nodded in agreement.

Winry still lay, a mess on the concrete in the back alleyway behind the building. For the wonderful sunny day it had been, it was turning out to be a really shitty day nonetheless. She still had tears coming from her eyes, and blood coming from a few places all over her body as rain began to fall, mixing with the tears and flushing the blood away to random corners of the alley. Deciding she didn't want anyone to find her like this, she pushed herself up, pulling her skirt back on.

She limped across the concrete, around the corner, and back towards the door, finding that this time, it was open.

Heading for the cleark, she proceeded over, about to ask where she could clean herself up. She noticed a lot of people staring at her, but she'd decided to ignore them. It was only making her think of how red her face must be by now, what from the tears and blood smeared all over the place. When she reached the front desk, a young man with brown hair looked up at her, and flinched. "Excuse me, but could you... Point me to a restroom?" Winry felt the tears welling up again, but held them inside. She couldn't let others see her drowing in her sorrow.

"Sure ma'am but could I ask what.. happened?" Winry thought for a long moment, but upon remembering what Ed had told her...

"I just tripped over a curb is all... Those streets are so busy." She put on the best fake smile she possibly could, and a disbelieving clerk pointed over to the corner where a bathroom was stationed. "Thank you." He nodded at her, and then tended to the line of people she'd been holding up.

Once through the restroom door, she stood in front of the mirror, only to choke in horror on a few more tears when she saw what had become of her face. A few bruises here, a scratch over there... He'd almost chipped her tooth off at one point when he tried to punch her. She washed her face off as best she could, trying to get the tear stains to leave, but the red and purple markings were still there. When she felt she'd done the job as best she could, she exited the bathroom.

Ed and Al were standing there, staring at her, Ed still throwing a fit.

"Where the hell were you! We wandered around here for almost two hours for your sorry ass!" Winry cringed, tears welling again. Ed saw this and imediately backed off. Raising his hands in the air, he tried to come up with a good excuse to make her feel better, especially so she wouldn't whack him with one of her newly purchased wrenches. "Uh, what's up with you then?"

"Oh, nothing," Winry replied, looking fearfully at the alchemist. She reached down, grabbing all of the bags he had been carrying, and giving him another fake smile, this one well played out. "Let's go then."

Lumina- So what'd ya think? Like it, hate it? Review please. No reviews, no chapters!


	2. Remembrances

Lumina- Thank you reviewers. Your reviews are much appreciated!

Disclaimer- I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist. If I did, randomness would be abundant.

Chapter 2- Remembrances

"Winry? Winry, wake up!"

She awoke to a sharp pain jabbing at her side, sweat dripping from off of her forehead again. She'd had that dream again, that one that always reminded her of the past, and what horrors awaited her when she woke up as well... "Are you alright?" Winry nodded to the blond who was now sitting up next to her. Had she woken him up as well? Either way, it didn't really matter. Ed never slept for very long as it was.

"You had that dream again, huh?" Another nod of confirmation as Winry sat herself up. She felt like now would be a good time to get some water, seeing as everyone was probably up from her screams again. "Where are you going?"

"Just to get some water..." Winry made her way down the stairs and into the kitchen, where she quickly found a glass from within one of the cupboards. She lowered it under the faucet. Great, another bad dream was upon her, the same one as always. No matter how many times she tried to explain to Ed what was the matter, he always acted like everything was fine; Like he could cope with it.

She never brought up the fact that the dream was about the time he'd raped her, stolen her innocence and most of her self respect, left her there to rot, and acted like nothing had happened. Also, she was a bit frightened. Ed had told her if she ever did mention what had happened in that alleyway, he'd kill her, and with the way Ed's temper sometimes got out of hand, she wouldn't doubt it.

And what was she supposed to say when he asked her out on a date? Was she supposed to refuse and end up getting her skull bashed in? Going out with someone she was frightened of was definately better than getting killed by someone she was frightened of, but how could she possibly handle all of the guilt and stress that piled up day after day?

Sighing in defeat, she got up the courage to dump out the remaining water in the glass and walk back upstairs. It was two in the morning, and storming outside, so she figured Al would probably be awake, reading up on some alchemy books. Those brothers were exactly alike, and you could see more and more of Ed developing in Al each passing day. Edward was so proud of his younger brother. Winry could see it in his eyes.

Honestly, she'd tried to tell Al what had happened. Really, seriously tried as hard as she could, but to know avail. Nothing worked for her. The second she felt she'd gotten up the courage to finally admit what had happened, she felt like she was getting a dizzy spell, and almost fainted. Of course, Ed was always there at her side, reassuring her that he loved her and was sure it would pass over. After a while, Al began to believe she had a disease somewhat like the one their mother had.

Winry, being the adamant blond she is, shrugged it off, and continued about her business, accepting a hug from Ed and feeling the guilt rush to all of her senses at an almost terrifying speed. She was living with this though, and there was nothing she could do.

Once reaching the upstairs and entering into the room she shared with the Fullmetal Alchemist once more, Winry collapsed on the bed, causing Ed to roll over and take a good look at her. He was worried, and she could tell. It was time to come up with a good excuse or she'd have to listen to his long list of frets over the past week. "You okay?" She cringed at the sound of his voice.

"I'm fine." She saw the understanding in his eyes as he looked her up and down. "Really, Edward..." She wanted to hug him, but didn't. Never once had Winry attempted to advance on Ed. She figured he'd do it himself, seeing as how she knew he was perfectly capable of it.

"Well, alright," Ed said, not bothering to give it another thought. Instead, he placed a kiss on the young blond's forehead, rolled over to blow the candle he'd just lit out, and faced the other way, wrapping his arms around Winry. She gave a deep sigh and let herself be taken over by another semi decent sleep. But before that could happen...

A knock on the door. Ed moved his arms back and sat up as Al walked into the room, looking at his brother with a look of deep concern. "What is it this time?"

"The basement is flooding." Was the storm really that bad, Winry wondered. Edward stood up, stretching and simply throwing his trench on over his boxers and shirt. He had to go inspect the basement. As he left the room, Winry cuddled up into the blankets, throwing the comforter over herself, and snuggled into the pillow. Things just seemed so much calmer now that Ed had left.

-----

It was a bit later on in the morning before the next time Winry was woken up, this time by pokes and prods from the younger Elric brother looming over her, impatiently waiting. That was a bit odd, since Al had always been the one to explain to everyone else how patience was an important virtue.

Winry shifted awake, opened her eyes slowly to take in the light that filled the previously darkened room. "W-What?" She practically stammered. If one thing was for certain, it was that Winry was not a morning person.

"Sorry to bother you, Winry, but the basement is completely filled with water." She blinked. It didn't have much of an impact on her.

"Why are you telling me? Why not granny..." She rolled over, completely unsuspecting of what she'd just said.

"Uh Winry, Pinako died three months ago, remember?" Certainly, she did, but being half asleep, she wasn't ready to realize this yet. She wanted to burry her face in the pillow and slowly drift back into a peaceful slumber. It can't have been that late already, could it? Either way, it was apparent Al wasn't going to let her sleep any longer, so she pushed the covers off, and slowly rose up, stretching as she did so. "Sorry to have woken you up so early."

"That's fine, Al," Winry replied, turning to make the bed as she did so.

She reached the downstairs, hoping to avoid a certain other blond who could be lurking around any corner, but didn't have much luck with this. "Morning, Winry," He said, strolling over to her and once again wrapping his arms around her. He leaned in for a kiss, which she gave, out of fear he'd do something rash if she didn't give in easily. "You slept better last night?"

Sure, despite the dreams, despite the fact he _knew_ she'd woken up in the middle of the night, Winry had slept fine. Just marvelous. She nodded at him, hoping he'd just go away already. That was too much to hope for. "You aren't talking much this morning." She took this as a threat, one hidden within the words Ed had just said to her, and began to talk about pointless objects.

"What about the basement?" Ed shrugged and momentarily scratched his head.

"Well, we don't know what we're going to do with it yet, but we've certainly got to do something." Ed looked over at the kitchen with a glint in his eye, and Winry seemed to know just exactly what he was getting at. "Were you going to, uhm..." His stomach growled as though right on cue.

"Sure," Winry replied, giving him a fake smile and walking over to the cupboards to pull out the nessecary equipment for creating breakfast. Ed ate a lot, so she always ended up cooking a lot. Not that it bothered her. "You want rice with that, correct?" Ed's ears imediately perked up, upon hearing the word rice. He nodded his head so hard Winry thought it might snap off. She laughed to herself, unable to contain the giggle fit.

"Call me when it's finished. I gotta go talk to Al about the uh... Basement?" Winry, now in a good mood, waved him off as he stepped out the front door. Her mixed feelings were capable of confusing anyone on somedays. Today was one of those days.

---

The dirt had turned to mud as Ed sloshed through it, planning to take a trip over to the hill he and Al always sat at when they were in deep thought. His younger brother was already there waiting for him. They'd planned to meet here after Ed convinced Winry to cook them something to eat, and they weren't here to talk about the basement, either. Ed had more important matters he needed to discuss with Al.

"You're having girl problems again, huh?" Al asked as his brother plopped down next to him.

"Yeah. I just figured you could help me, because, you know... You're..." Al smiled, waiting for the few words that could mean so much to him, his personality, and his ego. "The sensitive one that girls go to..." Ed gave him an odd look.

"I can't see what you're talking about, brother!" Al said innocently. Ed smirked. "So what's the issue?"

"Winry doesn't talk much anymore. It's always the same old shit these days. She does exactly what I tell her, never takes compliments the wrong way, doesn't try to fight with me... I miss the wrench, quite honestly I do." Al began to laugh. "What! I just miss the old Winry is all!"

"I understand, brother. Maybe just take her somewhere nice. Go to Central. Make her feel appreciated? Maybe she's depressed having to do all of the work after auntie passed away..." It was funny just how much sense Al's words made, Ed thought to himself as he played out the sequence in his mind. Perhaps he would take her to Central, and they could have dinner together. Al could stay in Resembool and tend to the house.

"Thanks Al. You're the best." Edward gave his little brother a quick hug and stood up, hearing Winry calling his name. "We'd better go. Breakfast is ready."

---

Sitting at the table, rushedly shoving pancakes into his mouth was the Fullmetal Alchemist Edward Elric. Winry sat across from him, not eating, but admiring Ed as he ate. For someone she feared so much, she sure did envy him...

"Aren't you going to eat?"

The voice cut into her like a sharp knife through butter, and she almost flinched. "No," She replied sharply, trying to make it clear that she didn't want to touch the food in front of her. She wouldn't even be able to eat a piece of toast. You could say that after the rape incident, Winry had gone a little anorexic. Edward gave her a stern look, and, grabbing a plate from next to him, put a few pancakes on it, shoving it in front of her. "Please eat, Winry. I'm worried about you."

What a good actor he was. He'd terrorized her about two years ago, and now he was acting as though he truely cared. Maybe he had changed, since he didn't try to overtake her anymore, but Winry could still worry, couldn't she?

Taking a fork and reaching it towards her plate, Winry picked up one of the pancakes and cringed as she set it into her mouth. Mostly she stuck to water and apples these days. Pancake was a real change for her. "So, Winry..."

"Hmm?" Was all she could manage through a mouthful.

"I was thinking... Maybe we could go to Central in a few days and have dinner there? My treat," Ed said, giving her a huge smile. What a suprise it was for her, as she quickly swallowed, setting her fork down aside her plate on the table. She nodded, giving her best impression of happiness. "Great!" Ed certainly looked a great deal happier as he gulped down the remaining two pancakes on his plate and went to set the dishes in the sink.

Rising to put her own plate on top of Ed's, Winry made her way across the kitchen and began to run some water out of the sink, only to be stopped by a hand reaching for the faucet. "That's okay Winry, I can do the dishes." Al always made himself so presentable, so friendly.

"Thanks Al," Winry replied, turning only to find herself in Ed's arms once again. "Come on Ed, you never can let go of me," Winry smiled, actually feeling happiness this time. Ed smiled back at her, and didn't let go of her.

"That's because you're my angel."

Lumina- I hope you're all happy with chapter 2. Chapter 3 should hopefully be up soon. Please review!


	3. Ghosts of the Past

Lumina- I'm sorry I haven't updated in a while. Busy with school work, as many of us are, I'm sure.

Disclaimer- I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist. If I did, well, we'd have more than 51 episodes.

Chapter 3- Ghosts of the Past

"And you're sure, absolutely _positive_ you're going to be okay on your own?" Edward asked his younger brother, who nodded in response with a large smile plastered to his face. Ed knew that by the time he and Winry arrived back to the house, it would be absolutely spotless, not that this was a bad thing. Winry loved coming home to a new decorative style. And anything that Winry enjoyed, Ed had the tendancy of enjoying too.

"Everytime you guys leave for Central, you ask me that, and everytime I have to answer, I tell you I'm sure I'll be fine. Has there ever been a time I haven't been okay?" Ed laughed at this question and shook his head.

"I trust you," Ed replied, patting Al on the shoulder as he continued to laugh. Winry stepped outside the door, holding a suitcase and dragging it down the walk towards Edward and Alphonse, as Ed gave her a huge smile. "You want me to get that for you?" He asked, not giving her a chance to answer. Ed had already pulled the suitcase from her hands. She smiled back at him, liking how the day was going so far.

"Thanks," She said, leaning over to give Al a hug good-bye. He returned the embrace, lightly patting her on the back as he did so. "Take care of the house." Al nodded. "And bye the way, I really like the color blue this month..." A grin appeared on the younger Elric's face as he waved to the retreating couple, walking down the path towards the train station.

---

The train ride wasn't something that was too enjoyable for the couple.

Bumps bothered Edward as the train practically bounced around on the tracks. It was suprising it didn't tip over, but Ed expected that if it would have, Winry wouldn't have been too happy about the walk. Already it was a day's trip from Resembool to Central. They didn't need to exagerate the point by having to walk as well. The train shook again, and Ed's cursive L turned out a bit more loopy than it was supposed to, an extra and unnecessary line of ink going off the side of the page, a bit of it almost spilling onto the seat of the compartment.

Winry sat across from him, reading a romance novel. She was really into those, Ed noticed, as he tried in vain to make the line unnoticable. After all, there was more than one reason the two were traveling to Central.

Of course, the first and foremost reason they were going was so Edward could treat Winry to one of those luxurious dinners, which he wasn't exactly sure she enjoyed. Winry was odd lately, often acting the opposite of what she usually did. And the second reason... Well, Ed wouldn't ever want to discuss the fact he was still in the Military, still under the rule of that bastard Roy Mustang, and couldn't help but want to curse his name sometimes.

Though he would have to admit Roy was one of his better friends, rather than his superior. He let the two brothers in on a number of secrets that were supposed to be completely confidential. Ed would thank him for that someday, just that today probably wouldn't be that day. Trying to finish his report was the first matter at hand.

Edward was busy concentraiting on making the letters blend together in his head, and on that piece of paper, almost as though he could use telekinesis to do so. Everything was becoming blurred. He was concentraiting a little too hard, until another bump of the train jarred him out of his thoughts, in this way, the paper crumpled to the floor as Winry shook from the other compartment, losing her balence as she sat and flying into his lap. Luckily enough, he caught her.

"I'm beginning to think maybe this train isn't the safest of the bunch," Winry complained as she regained her lost seat, this time next to Ed. He picked up the report and smoothed it over, trying to make it perfect, not wanting to have to rewrite it all over again.

"Beginning to? I've thought so for the whole ride!" Ed replied, angrily shoving the paper into his suitcase. Winry could see the fury bubbling up inside. She flinched when he slammed the suitcase shut and turned back to her, staring at her fear as she leaned back against the window of the small compartment. "What's wrong?" He asked, not looking nearly as confused as he was.

"You just... Slammed that really loud is all," Winry replied, unconsciously settling herself back down next to Edward, a look of fear still plastered to her face.

"Sorry," Ed muttered, "But this train is really starting to piss me off." And so it would for the next two and a half hours.

---

Central was one of the most busy places you could ever end up at in your entire life, or so Winry thought as she followed Ed through the many groups of people and towards a motel building. Honestly, he should have ended up at the military headquarters first, but who would really want to carry two suitcases around an area as large as Central?

As they passed the many stores, filled with automail and pieces to enhance it, Winry couldn't help but worry as she stared down one of the alleyways. She knew she wouldn't be able to see the one she'd been in... "You okay?" Ed's voice cut through the noise of the crowd.

"Yeah, I'm fine, just getting a little tired is all..." Winry replied, trying to come up with a good excuse for her sudden lack of hyperactivity. Usually when they took a trip to Central, she was overly ecstatic, but now she only seemed to be having the worst time of her life, letting off morbid, cynical, depressing auras as she spoke to the blond alchemist who was trying so hard to please her.

"Too tired to go to dinner tonight?" Ed asked, an antihopeful tint in his voice. Winry knew what he was getting at. She always knew when he wanted something, and she also knew it was best not to displease him. Putting on another fake smile, she shook her head.

"Never too tired to eat dinner with you, Edward."

That made Ed smile.

---

"So where do you wanna eat?"

Winry looked over at the blond alchemist, who was busily looking through a phone book and recalling all the different restaraunts he had visited in his previous years of being stuck in Central. And believe me, he'd been there a lot. "It really doesn't matter... Whatever your budget will allow, I guess." She had to turn her head when she thought she heard Ed laughing, and she had.

There he sat, on the bed, the phone book slowly sliding towards the floor as he went into hysterics. "What!"

"Come on Winry, you know I can afford _anything._ It's your choice. Anywhere you wanna go. Now where's it gonna be?" Winry thought hard for a few moments. There weren't many places she'd been to in Central, and she would have rather liked to try something new. And so she suggested the restaurant across the street from Headquarters. Anyways, Ed still needed to drop off his paperwork.

---

It was another hour and a half before Ed and Winry were finally seated. Part of the depletion of time came from Roy and Ed getting into one of their little fights, ending with Ed storming out like a rabid animal, grabbing Winry by the arm and dragging her back to the motel so she could get herself ready for later that night. She hadn't really done much though.

Mostly changed into a nice dress, a long pink one with white flowers on the bottom, where there were slits up to about her knees. Ed, on the other hand, didn't seem to go for the formal thing too much. He hadn't changed his clothes at all.

And Winry couldn't understand it. He still had every other girl in that restaurant staring at him, lusting after him. She could just tell. It made her angry to think that her Edward Elric, and hers alone, would end up getting so much attention. Another thing she couldn't understand was why she cared so much after the guy had raped her. He'd raped her. And she loved him.

Or did she? She couldn't decide whether she went out with him in fear or because she felt the same way. She didn't even know how he felt.

Again she looked at Ed. How could people possibly act normal in a place like this, Winry thought as she watched Ed being admired by most of the other girls at the restaurant. One of them was looking at him and giggling, pointing at the alchemist as her friend did the same. And yet Ed didn't seem to notice, his eyes transfixed on Winry as she batted her food around, probably trying to imagine her with her hair down. Winry could only wish to learn how he kept himself so care free.

"Something the matter?" Maybe Winry had been concentraiting too hard on how to be careless, or possibly it was that Ed had finally noticed she'd just barely touched her food. Instead of answering right away, she moved on hand from off the top of her lap and placed it on top of his, causing the alchemist to blush. She shook her head, also blushing.

"No... Everything's perfect." And everything was perfect, even all of the girls staring at ed with enthusiasm. They just made Winry feel more pleased with her situation, that she was with the famous Fullmetal Alchemist and they weren't, that they were all sitting there, completely jealous of her, just as they should be.

Since she finally had his full attention, she stood up, taking his hand with her. "Shall we go for a walk?" Ed, completely ignoring the fact she hadn't eaten, stood up, and nodded. Anything to please her.

They walked out the front door with every other girl huffing in anger. One girl in particular rolled her purple eyes as best she could, and followed silently behind.

Lumina- How was it? Sorry I took so long. What's up with that 'girl' in the end? I just gave it away... Reviews please!


	4. Mate, Kill, Feed, Repeat

Lumina- Well, a nice, long, three-day weekend for our school. How happy could a person possibly be? I'm going to guess you guys are happy, because I have extra time to update my story. Yay for updates. And yeah, the name of the chapter is from a Slipknot c.d. Sorry about the length... It's a rape scene and since everyone wanted an update so fast it's a little short. Enjoy.

Disclaimer- I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist or any of its characters.

Chapter 4- Mate, Kill, Feed, Repeat

Edward and Winry had come to rest on a bench at the top of a hill, as Winry had suggested it wasn't the greatest experience in the world to be walking all around Central in such a long dress. It practically touched the ground. And of course, Ed, being the love-struck young teen he was, ended up happy to oblige.

"Did you need to get any more shopping done while we're here in Central? I would much rather get it done now than to have to come all the way back on the train again in a week or two. Not that I don't like when Al ends up coming along or anything..." The Alchemist was rambling, and Winry was listening with a small bit of blush gracing her face, though you couldn't see it in the dark. She loved it when the blond talked about the world as though she were the only important thing, even more important than his younger brother. And you'd have to be pretty damn important to Ed to be more important than Al.

"No, I don't think I need anything right now. How very sweet of you to ask," Winry added, trying to ignore the fact she was getting that feeling again. It was that cold, sinking sensation she always got when someone talked about shopping in Central, about 'That time when she'd dissapeared for about two hours and no one had a single clue where she'd gone to.' Why didn't they ask Ed? He would've known...

Stop. Couldn't go there, or she'd break down and wonder why God treated her like somebody's puppet. She certainly wasn't Ed's, much less his sex slave, and she wouldn't let herself be treated that way ever again. So why did he always ignore the fact he'd stolen her innocence? "Winry...?" Great, she'd gone and spaced out again, and there was Edward, staring at her like she was some mutant or something. And then she felt like she might cry, but didn't. "You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm just fine..." Winry replied, trying her best to hold her tears inside. Ed must've sensed something was wrong. He stood up, raising himself from the bench, walking over to Winry and wrapping his arms around her. She cringed.

"Something's wrong..." Indeed, something was wrong, something very wrong lurking in the bushes behind the couple. Neither of them were aware of this however, as Ed turned Winry towards himself and began to softly kiss her. Maybe he just thought it was the right thing to do, or maybe that it would make her feel better, but either way, something wrong was still there.

"Maybe we should go back to the motel..." Winry said, an apparent smile on her face. She could already tell exactly what Ed wanted, and she was afraid to deny him of his obvious right to her. Ed smiled back at her. Grabbing her hand, he began to lead her back towards the area of Central that was filled with buildings.

All the while, purple eyes were watching, _staring, _examining the couple as they made a happy scene out of the night. And the body that owned these purple eyes was ready to fuck everything up for both of them. As they walked, a noise, loud and familiar to the Fullmetal Alchemist was emitted from one of the bushes a few yards away from him. Winry practically jumped three feet into the air. "What was..."

"Don't know, but we'll find out," Ed replied, walking over to the bushes, and leaving Winry completely behind in the dark. What a great idea.

"Ed... Ed!" But he was already gone. Turning back around, now even more frightened of her situation than ever, Winry looked around. This was reminding her so much of that day... And she was terrified.

Going over all of the problems happening all at once...

It was cold, dark, and Winry had a seemingly familiar feeling of dread running through her body as she searched almost blindly in the pitch black of the night, pushing bushes and tree branches out of her way and calling Ed's name. She had yet to hear an audible answer come from any direction of the area. It was hard to believe that just mere minutes ago she'd been sitting with Edward, finally having one of the best nights of her life, all to have it reduced down to this.

Winry couldn't ever remember feeling any lower in her entire whole of a life. It was just as she was turning around to yell Ed's name again when she felt a hand grasp her shoulder.

There Ed stood, some look Winry could simply not register echoing in his eyes, inaudibly telling her that something was wrong. And yet she couldn't bring herself to move even an inch as the blond pushed her up against the tree and held her there, anger or lust present in his expression. All at once, Winry's mind began to register exactly what was happening. "Ed..."

She'd attempted to say something, but Edward wasn't allowing it to happen. He placed his flesh arm over her mouth and his automail arm ripped and tore at once strap of her dress, hurridly seperating it and the other one from her shoulder as she tried to scream, but to no avail. His arm was much too tightly pressed over her mouth for any sound to excape at all. And now Winry was beginning to realize that the only way she would ever be able to get out of this situation unscathed was to let him have his way with her. In just, she gave in easily.

She very simply let a few tears fall from her face as Ed pushed her down to the ground and lifted the bottom of her dress up, looking down and giving a perverted smirk as he did so. Winry felt her undergarment being removed before she finally realized she wouldn't be able to stay calm under this sort of pressuer. She wretched away from the blond, kicking him in the face with her heel and leaving a large cut in the process.

Winry slithered away, pushing herself up and running as fast as she could for the nearest street light. _Almost there..._ And then she felt it. Ed had grabbed the bottom of her skirt, dragging her down into the dirt and crawling on top of her, holding her there and wrapping one arm around her neck.

"Ed, get off of me!" She screamed, trying her best to wriggle free of his grasp. Nothing was working. All in all, she was amazed by the power of the automail _she_ had constructed. It held her tight, almost crushed her as Ed took his flesh hand and whapped her across the face from on top of her. He rolled her over and looked at her. The purple eyes were scanning her, smiling at her beauty, though they simply didn't care much for the blond. It was too bad Winry never noticed the eye color...

Tears began to stream from her eyes again as Ed assaulted her for the second time. And this time, she didn't feel any warmth, didn't feel anything, because all she could think of was how much God must've hated her to let this happen to her not once, but twice now.

Things were much different this time around, however. It seemed as though Ed was beginning to want more and more out of this situation, and Winry, strong as she was, had convinced herself things would be better if she willingly gave into his selfish desires. "Why don't you move a little!" He gritted his teeth, unable to talk normal because of the feeling of pleasure coarsing through his body.

Winry, unsure of how to incorporate this and motivate herself to 'move,' clenched her teeth and rolled over onto the top of him, rocking back and forth. Still, she choked on sobs, and again, Ed smacked her across the face because she wasn't making the best experience out of this. "You're useless!"

And then came all of the nasty comments Winry thought she would never have to hear coming out of Ed's mouth in her entire life. "Sure you're pretty on the outside... Sometimes... But on the inside, what's going on in that brain of yours!" Ed pushed her off, finally finished with Winry. "I'll bet everyone hates you, being so morbid and cynical all the time." One last time, he hit her, and this time left a purple streak by her eye. Then he kicked her in the stomach, and she bent over, coughing and sputtering as the blond looked down at her and smiled. "Don't think I'm finished with you yet." He made his leave.

For a few more minutes, Winry lay there, sobbing uncontrollably from pain on both the inside and the outside. He'd called her ugly. And all the time before he'd always told her about how pretty he thought she was, how much he loved her. Well, it seemed that it was over now.

She realized though, that she had to get up.

She did about the same as she had the last time this had happened, wiping the dirt from her dress and the blood from her face, wandering over to the street light. Winry had only been walking for a few minutes before she heard Ed again, and cringed, another tear falling from her face.

"Winry! Where were you!" He gave her a hug, and flinched when he saw her face. "What the hell happened!"

"Oh wouldn't you like to know!" She yelled, trying to tear herself from his grasp.

"Yes, I would." And before she could say anymore, she'd collapsed in his embrace and began crying on his shoulder, afraid that her sudden outburst would cause him to beat her senseless again, and maybe do something worse.

Lumina- So were your ideas correct? I would say so! Please review!


	5. Questions, and a Little 'Problem'

Lumina- Kind of quick updates because I love my reviewers! (Hugs)

Disclaimer- I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist. If I did, Winry and Ed would have a serious relationship.

Warning- Another one of these... And this one's for self mutilation. Oooh, pretty sharp objects! Poor, poor Winry!

Chapter 5- Questions, and a Little 'Problem'

For hours into the night, Winry sat in the bathroom of the motel room she and Ed were staying in and sobbed, all the while Ed sat next to her and whispered reassurences of how everything would be okay. He cleaned her up, whiped her face off with a warm, damp washrag and kissed the cuts and bruises. And all the while, Winry simply could not understand how this was the same person who'd just raped her for the second time.

He seemed so nice once he'd calmed down. In fact, he seemed nice most of the time she was around him. What had she done wrong that night to cause him to freak out like that? Had it even been Ed? How could it not have? It looked exactly like him in every way. She was _positive._

And so, out of both confusion and hurt, she sat and cried, and Ed hugged her tightly, not allowing her out of his sight. This couldn't have been some form of punishment, though it honestly felt that way. How could she feel comfortable sitting in the same room as him when she was constantly in fear he was about to hit her, then she would break down and he would hit her again, maybe kick her in the stomach some more. That hurt pretty bad.

But the thing that hurt the worst was what Ed had said to her before leaving her there to bleed and cry, drowing in sorrow from the words he'd lain upon her. He'd called her _ugly,_ both on the inside and out. What could this mean? And what _was_ going on in her brain when she thought about the situation? All of the mixed feelings had made it impossible to tell exactly what she _thought_ much less _believed_ was going on in her head. Half of her insisted the real Ed would never do something like this, and thus, it could not be the Edward Elric that she knew, could simply not be the person she had before proclaimed her childhood friend and years afterwards her boyfriend.

The other half told her that this was in fact Ed, and he hated her more than anything else in the world. Everything just collided together and caused a huge mess. What was she to do with half of her brain insisting she still loved him and the other half telling her to drop him? What was she about to do now?

Hours passed, and Ed finally had to leave the fretting girl alone, shutting the door behind him and listening to her heart wretching sobs echo in the bathroom.

---

It had been a while, taken a while for Winry to pick herself up off the bathroom floor where she'd fallen and understand that somehow, someway, she would have to will herself to go talk to Ed about the situation. That may have been the number one thing she didn't want to do, but it had to be done. She wasn't sure she could live with the guilt anymore. But where was the guilty feeling coming from? Wasn't that Ed's job, to feel guilty?

What the hell kind of things was her brain trying to come up with? It was split evenly as far as opinions on the alchemist went, and she had absolutely no idea as to what its alarming conclusion would possibly be, and whether she would follow its guide lines or not. Still, there was the matter that Edward was sitting in the same room as her, not trying to say anything, but trying to acknowledge her presense all the same. And Winry respected him for that.

All at once, it seemed that her brain came to a complete stop, just halted its process entirely, and threw a random thought at the girl.

When he'd been raping her, Edward had called her ugly, treated her like dirt, or maybe that had been because she was face down in the dirt at the time... But, maybe this misjudgement was all her fault. Maybe she made bad decisions, and maybe she threw herself out there, and gave the impression she was easy and would tolerate random guys holding her down and violating her.

And maybe, just maybe, she didn't deserve to live. How many people actually appreciated having a trashy little slut sitting next to them? How many guys could honestly go that long sitting by her without doing something she didn't like? So that's what she was... A trashy little slut giving off the impression she wanted it so bad she would take it from anyone without any second thoughts whatsoever.

Well, if that was the case, how could Ed honestly expect she'd want to be in this world any longer than she possibly had to?

Then the idea finally struck her, the idea of suicide. Surely it had been there all along, unwilling to show itself, reer its ugly head and give the blond as many ways and reasons it possibly could to kill herself. Another idea suddenly filled Winry's head. "Say Ed, do you happen to have a pair of scissors with you?" Ed looked at the girl, suprised. These were the first words she'd said to him since he'd brought her back to the motel.

"Yeah, why?" Her mind imediately came up with a reason. And it was pretty convincing, especially to Ed.

"I'm just going to trim my hair a little is all. Is that okay? Ed nodded and handed her a pair of sharp, shiny looking scissors. Very sharp, come to think of it, and Winry's mind somehow began to overflow with joy.

"You know whatever you do with your hair makes you look absolutely gorgeous." Winry smiled, despite her feelings on what she was about to do. Carefully, she made her way to the bathroom, stepped in, and shut the door behind her. She would have to do this quick, as she didn't want Ed to suspect anything. Maybe it was all too obvious, but she was apparently too caught up in her current thought to care much.

So it was with a little fear that Winry brought the sharp end of the scissors to her wrist, and very slowly, cut across the vein. So maybe she wasn't ready to die yet, but she needed to get some relief from somewhere, and this was it.

Suddenly, Winry felt much better. Could it possibly have been that her conscience was correct in thinking she needed to hurt herself to feel better? Was any of what was going on really her fault to begin with anyway? Well, whatever. She felt like a lot of weight had been lifted off of her now, and, carefully, she grabbed one of the rags the motel had provided, and cleaned herself up. The cut wasn't the deepest in the world, and didn't bleed quite as much as she'd imagined it would.

The scissors would need to be returned to Edward, so she cleaned them up with the same rag, and dried them off. Then she snipped her hair a slight bit shorter than it had been, just not by much, and making sure she had a black sweater on to cover her wrist, she walked out of the bathroom as though nothing had ever happened.

When she handed the object back to Ed, he simply smiled at her and placed them on the table next to them. "I like your hair this way too," He cooed, eyes half closed and apparently trying to draw the blond girl to him. And suprisingly, it was working. Something had taken place, some change of mind that Winry couldn't explain should she ever have to, and now she was feeling pretty lustful. A weird feeling after being raped in the same night.

She practically fell forward onto Ed's lap, and it was right there that she sat, glued to the spot and began to make out with the blond.

All other thoughts, worries, everything was forgotten as they really began to get into what they were doing, so into it that Ed had to pick the girl up and drag her over to the bed to make the position a little less awkward, and allow the two a bit more room to move around. Winry couldn't have cared less. She was far too concerned with fufilling that lust that had suddenly made its way inside of her, and Ed would most likely be her best help.

The night went on as such, and Winry did something she never would have thought possible with him, especially after being raped.

---

It was the next morning that Winry realised what a large mistake she'd made the previous night, probably two times in a row, not that the first one was very preventable. She was paying for the mistake when she stumbled over to the bathroom. Her stomach felt horrible. It couldn't have been something she'd eaten, right? Whether or not that was it, her stomach convulsed, and she threw up.

She was lucky it was still so early, and Ed wasn't awake yet. Winry didn't want him to think she was sick, or he'd take her to the hospitol, cart her around until the problem was solved, because he was just that obsessed.

Maybe a trip to the doctor would have solved everything, but Winry, with a bit of common sense involved, was able to figure out the problem before a doctor was even required. And the idea made a few tears drop from her eyes, because she knew, just _knew_ that this was the only reason she'd be throwing up like this. And oh God, did she think Ed would kill her.

Poor Winry was pregnant.

Lumina- Poor Winry! This story is escalating... Wow we have a lot of chapters to go, so you can all be happy, because it's going to be long! Okay, reviews please!


	6. Amethyst

Lumina- I certainly have a lot of reviews... You guys like the story that much? Thanks guys! It means a lot to me. Oh and everyone... As one of the reviewers pointed out, I made a teensy mistake about the pregnancy... Sorry everybody. And Lauren-loves-Ryuichi, thanks so much. I really appreciate it. As far as the baby goes, it could be Ed's, it could be Envy's. Make your predictions. Also, this chapter is short because I wrote it so fast... Because I have a request for my reviewers, or anyone reading this story for that matter. I already drew up a picture of the little kid, and I need somebody to color it for me. Yeah, that means you'll get to know whose it is, whether it's a boy or a girl, what it looks like, etc. So email me if you can! I'd really appreciate it!

Disclaimer- I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist. If I did, we'd have a million movies!

Chapter 6- Amethyst

For a few sad and lonely minutes, Winry locked herself in the bathroom, unsure of how she could possibly handle this situation. Would Ed blame her? But how could he? After all, it was his fault he always failed to use protection. Still, Winry somehow thought he'd blame her, and her alone.

Again, she had to get herself off the bathroom floor, but this time, she was unwilling to move.

For the extreme problem she had right now, she felt like sitting there and crying her eyes out. So far, she was doing a good job of it, even though she had to quiet herself down so Ed didn't hear her. He couldn't think something was wrong. She couldn't allow him to think something was wrong, couldn't let him see her like this, with her eyes all red and puffy, sniffles emitted from her quite freely as far as she was concerned.

She thought she heard a knock on the door when she finally slid up off the floor and leaned against the wall. "Winry?" Ed's voice entered. It was now that Winry wished she'd never met him, never said yes when he'd asked her out, but she had. "I'm just going out to get something quick before we leave. Is everything okay in there?"

"Yeah, it's... It's..." Winry just barely managed to hold off from crying. "I'm fine. You go do whatever. I can pack."

"Alright. See you later." Finally, the blond girl heard him walk away, open the door, and shut it again behind himself, right before she slid right back down onto the bathroom floor and began to sob into her arms again.

---

Again the train ride wasn't the best experience Winry had ever had in her life. Although Ed seemed to be enjoying himself a bit more than usual, she was still frightened to say anything, much less even give the impression she was pregnant at all.

"So, Winry..."

The voice made Winry bounce right back to her senses, away from that nightmarish world she'd locked herself in. Suprisingly, she was happy to hear him say her name, so she listened, intent on hearing what he had to say.

"There's something I've gotta ask you."

No. He couldn't have noticed she'd been in the bathroom so often lately. Or could he have? Well, that wasn't a good sign, but Winry tried her hardest not to seem anxious in the least little bit. Ed continued. "I..." The door flew open before the blond could finish. A Military Policeman pushed had pushed it open, and was now staring at the couple, and Ed was staring back, looking more than a little angry. "What now?"

"Mr. Elric sir, the L..."

"What the fuck does Mustang want?" Ed asked, already knowing what he would say without the MP finishing even a syllable.

"Not exactly sure, but he's requested to see you up in the front car." Ed flinched. Why would Roy be coming on a train to Resembool? Hadn't he ruined his life enough in the previous years Ed had served under him? Apparently not, Edward thought, as he stood up.

"Sorry Winry. I'll be back in a few minutes." Winry managed a smile and nodded, waving to him as he left. Finally, she was able to be in peace. She sat back, head pushed against the plush feeling seat, and tried her hardest to fall asleep. It wasn't very easy with everything stirring her mind around, all the worries filling it up. But she did her best, and eventually, drifted off.

---

"Alright, now what's this about?" Ed's fists slammed onto the seat as he sat across from Roy, an angry glint apparent in his eyes, and his tone of voice not exactly friendly. Currently, Edward Elric was a force to be reckoned with. "And why the hell would you be going all the way to Resembool? Some emergency call or something?" Roy Mustang had always been very patient with the Fullmetal Alchemist, as he was now.

"Fullmetal, you really should learn to treat your superiors with more respect than you are right now." Ed forced a growl down his throat, not to mention the lust to punch Roy square in the forehead. He hated it when people played mind games with him. "And yes, there was an emergency call from Resembool."

"Hold on, it wasn't from Al, was it?" Ed asked, now more worried than he'd been the whole day. Well, that was only if you subtracted the fact he'd been a bit concerned for Winry when she'd locked herself in the bathroom that morning. He'd heard her crying. The whole rest of the day he'd wondered exactly what was up with her, but she wasn't giving him anymore clues than she ever did.

"No, Ed, it wasn't from your brother. It was from a young girl named Nelly." Ed knew her. He could remember Nelly, one of his other childhood friends who'd grown up with him as well as a few others. "Apparently her livestock have been dissapearing over the past month, and she claims when she goes outside late at night to see if she can catch anyone, she always sees someone walking down the street. To make matters even more confusing, it's always someone different."

"So how does she figure that these people aren't just walking by?" Edward asked, now more intrigued by the situation at hand. It wasn't usual to see a lot of different people lining up in Resembool, so why would people start doing it now?

"I found that strange as well, but what's even more strange..." Roy paused, making eye contact with the young alchemist as he did so. "Is that all of the people had purple eyes."

Lumina- I know! You guys want a longer chapter and faster updates! I promise the next chapter will be way longer than this! And just to say it again... I need someone to color the picture of the kid, that is if anyone can. Otherwise I can probably just get one of my friends to do it. Reviews please. Oh yeah, and Envy is stalking around looking for a certain 'someone' just in case you peeps are confused. Later.


	7. Discussions

Lumina- Quick review because my last chapter wasn't the greatest. Sorry everybody. Influence of Izumi in this chapter! Yay Izumi!

Disclaimer- I don't own Fullmetal alchemist. If I did, everyone would HAVE to watch it and like it. Well... Maybe.

Chapter 7- Discussions

It was a little weird. Everyone having those same, purple colored eyes that went by Nelly's house. Now who had purple eyes that Ed could think of? No one in particular, unless... "Envy..." He muttered, barely audible.

"You say something, Fullmetal?" Roy asked, waiting for a reply. Ed shook his head. He didn't want anyone involved in a situation with the homunculus, mostly because he knew what kind of damage Envy was capable of inflicting, all in a day's work. "I just heard you..." Roy was rendered silent as a hand slammed down next to him, and one that was made of automail at that. Edward was looking him straight in the eye, with a dangerous glint present in his expression.

"I didn't say anything," Ed replied, realising his place and backing away from the raven-haired man for the time being. Now Roy was the one with the angry expression. He never would've expected Edward to be getting so out of hand after about a year of time off. Maybe it was time to start getting the alchemist some more missions, and Roy, knowing clearly Ed had just said something, knew the perfect one to bestow upon him.

"Alright then Edward, if you really don't know anything, why don't you find out who's behind this? It would be enlightening." Ed's face changed from a shocked expression to a pale one. Sure, he hated Envy so much, hated him with a burning passion stronger than the flames of hell, but in a way, he didn't want to have to deal with him either.

"Fine," Ed replied, admitting defeat before he'd began even fighting it. Mustang smiled, handing Edward a manilla folder with a few papers shoved inside. "But I expect double for this, especially since you chose to lay this on me on such a bad time."

"And why is this such a bad time?" Roy asked. Ed's face imediately went bright red, and he closed his eyes, sighing. He didn't want to admit he had the very item in his pocket, didn't want to admit what he was going to do. Just that Roy wouldn't quite fucking _pushing_, and he knew that well enough. "Well Fullmetal? I don't have all day." Like hell he didn't.

"I... Never mind. You wouldn't understand." Unluckily for Ed, his superior was great at guessing games.

"Does it have something to do with Miss Rockbell?" Again, Edward's face went about five shades darker of red, until it was just barely the color of his trench. He didn't like where this was going, especially when he knew Roy was taking guesses... And right on track at that motion. Mustang's eyes moved down to the large pocket, where an item was shoved inside, probably incased. "Oh, I see. You're going to..."

Roy didn't say much more before he was practically knocked senseless by the blond alchemist.

"Say nothing about it! Not to Winry, not to _anybody!_" Ed hissed, retreating from the compartment to return to his own, hoping Roy wouldn't say anything on the matter at hand. Ed still wasn't ready to do this, but he needed to do it some time. When he finally got back to his side of the train, and sat down next to Winry, she was still fast asleep, head laid back on the plush seat. She looked extremely comfortable, Ed noted, for the first time in a long time.

---

"It's clear as anyone can see that Resembool hasn't changed too much."

A voice, a familiar one, cut through the air, disturbing the silence that had been placed between the teacher and one of her two students. Though she'd taken in several more kids back at her hometown of Dublith, Ed and Al would always be her main priorities. And now that Al had his body back, she didn't really have a reason to worry as much. Yes, the life of Izumi Curtis, very casually, continued on, even without her son.

"You don't think so?" Al asked, bronze eyes darting curiously to where his sensei stood, staring over the hill with a calm expression on her face. Nothing to be worried about. Izumi shook her head, looking in the distance to a young girl with dark hair.

"So that's the one..."

"Hm?" Al's head twisted to where Izumi's facial expression had changed dramatically in the past five to ten seconds. "Yeah, her livestock have been dissapearing." It was only for a few moments that Alphonse realized Izumi wasn't here simply to visit the Elric brothers, to check up on them, but also to investigate for herself the issues that had been taking place lately. "You're still looking for him..."

Izumi's head dropped for a second. It was hard to keep her composure when she knew she may never be reunited with her son again. "Yes..." Al just never could understand why Izumi would continue her search when she knew all the young homunculus was ever capable of was being a nuisance, but it seemed like she just didn't see it that way. Still, the blond questioned her.

"Why would you keep looking though... When you know he's probably long gone." The teacher sighed, turning to the younger of her two students, and shooting him a very odd remark.

"Why did you boys keep trying to get the Philosopher's Stone when you knew it might not have existed?" Now it was Al's turn to avert his gaze to the ground. Why hadn't they given up? It was obvious Alphonse figured his teacher should have known why they hadn't given up, so why was she even bothering to ask? She should've known the answer she was about to get was the same as always.

"Because, teacher. We wanted to know what life would be like... If we hadn't made a mistake like that. We had to keep going, had to get things back to normal."

"And what you call normal is definately not what you would have called normal a year or two ago, before you found the stone, am I correct?" Al was about to speak, but his teacher cut him off with another one of her confusing yet remarkable explanations. "So tell me, is what I'm doing really that much different? I can only imagine what 'normal' would be, had my son not been dead before he was born all of those years ago, and maybe I can even imagine taking that poor child into my household."

"Teacher..." Al gave yet another deep sigh before trying to decide if what he wanted to say would really be for the best. It had sounded good at first, yet now, he decided against it. Should anyone say anything degrading about Wrath in front of Izumi, they'd have hell to pay. Izumi could argue that Wrath was no different, and deserved to have a life as much as anyone else, but what kind of life was it when you had no soul? "I'm sorry." The grave look left Izumi's face as a smile took its place.

"That's alright. I'm sure someday things can be normal again. Or at least as normal as I can ever hope for." For a few minutes, the two stood there, just enjoying the peaceful breeze going through the air at the time.

"When did... When did she get here!" Al looked over to his right, only to see his older brother walking down the path, Winry right behind him, smiling and waving at Izumi. The teacher looked at her other student, perplexed to see he had Winry practically hanging on him. "Gonna answer me?" Alphonse gave a slight laugh as Izumi shook her head and gave a small sigh.

"And you just don't change either, do you Ed?" Izumi's question hung in the air for barely a few seconds before the blond answered her.

"No, not unless you count actually acting halfway decent towards most people these days, you couldn't really say I've changed, could you?" Ed set one of the suitcases down on the ground next to Al, who picked it up and carted it into the house. "So, when did you get here, and what are you here for?"

"I can't even visit the two of you to make sure you're not getting into anymore trouble? Honestly Ed, I have a right to be worried." Izumi looked to her left. "Even though it probably is safe to say Miss Rockbell hasn't let the two of you out of her sight?"

"Yeah, I would say so," Ed replied, looking grimly at his teacher. There were a few more seconds of silence, during which time Winry didn't try to speak either. "Teacher..." Golden eyes scanned Izumi's face, knowing everything about her, even though it should have been her job to know everything about Ed. "I know you didn't just come here to visit. Why are you really here?" She didn't answer. "It's for Wrath, isn't it..."

"Ed, just let it go, okay?" Al had emerged back outside, and was in the process of taking the other suitcase from his brother's left hand. "She's got her reasons, the same as the way we ever had ours for looking for the Philosopher's stone." Ed nodded, letting himself fall, defeated.

"So Al, how's the..." Winry paused when she stepped into the living room, completely surrounded by all types of blue objects. There were blue curtains, a blue table cloth, a few randomly yet perfectly placed blue rugs, even blue accessories to finish the job off. "I love it!" She squealed, running through the house and attempting to see what he'd done to all of the other rooms. Al smiled.

"Happy to hear it, Winry." He turned to Ed, motioning him to come inside the house. Izumi followed closely behind. "Brother, I need to ask you about the you know what... I have to know." Ed nodded, and making sure Winry and Izumi had engaged in a halfway-decent conversation before hand, followed Al out the door.

Lumina- I left you at a cliffy! Sorry, but I have BIG plans for the next chapter; Two confessions! One from Ed, one from Winry, both to Al! It should be out soon, I PROMISE.


	8. Confessions

Lumina- Quick updates for everyone! I spent an hour or two for a few nights figuring out how to phrase this chapter while listening to random music (Mostly Korn) on my cd Player, and finally got it perfect.

Disclaimer- I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist or any of its characters. If I did, I'd be rich.

Chapter 8- Confessions

It was quiet outside. Ed and Al were lucky for that much. Alphonse had led his older brother to a spot he thought would suite the upcoming conversation well, which meant they would discuss things on their usual hill. The brothers sat down beside each other, just as they had when they were younger, this matter no less important than the one about their father all of those years ago.

"So, did you get it?" Al asked, looking at Ed questioningly. Ed nodded, trying to hold back the beaming smile that wanted to make its way onto his face. "Can... Can I see it?"

"Sure..." Edward reached into his trench pocket, pulling out the item that had been bothering him when he'd had a conversation with Roy on the train. It was encased; obviously it held a high value. He opened it. A diamond ring, somewhat clear and very expensive looking graced the inside of the case, shining in all its brilliant glory and pointing out the obvious. Ed had been planning to propose to Winry. "I hope she likes it..."

"I'm positive she will," Al replied, staring at the ring. "Just think of how happy she's going to be..."

"You really think so?" Ed asked, closing the case and carefully placing it back inside his pocket. Al nodded, adding a smile so as not to get Ed discouraged. "When do you think I should ask her?" Alphonse opened his mouth, about to speak, but Ed stopped him. "Could you talk to her for me first? Maybe tell her I need to talk to her?"

"Sure," Al answered, pushing himself up off the ground.

"Hey Al..." Edward waited until he had his brother's full attention, meaning he was looking directly at him, before adding the next part. "You really are the best brother ever." Al smiled.

"You too, brother." That was the way their conversation ended. Al stood up and walked into the house to find Winry, and Ed followed closely behind, needing some time alone for a while. Al had obviously been in beliefs that he and Ed had been alone while talking about such personal affairs, but he had been wrong. Very wrong indeed. A sparrow chirped in a nearby tree, glaring with amethyst eyes at the retreating backs of the Elric brothers before fluttering down to earth, where a strange light engulfed it. Standing in its place, was Envy.

"I'll give him a 'best brother ever,'" Envy growled, planning his next move. Things were getting ever so difficult working on such a large project without Wrath's help. Errors were easy to make, but hard to fix, and he couldn't afford to miss this oppurtunity.

---

"I was just telling Alphonse how this place really hasn't changed much," Izumi explained to the blond femail next to her. "I expect you've taken good care of those two over the years, kept them in line?" Winry smiled. She'd also taken to treating Izumi as someone to look up to, so she was always polite.

"Well, I couldn't say I've done all the work around here. They take care of me, too, especially Ed. Before now, I never realized he had as much of a kind side to him as he does. Al helps around the house a lot. In such a big house, it would be so hard to take care of everything all by myself."

"It sounds like you really appreciate having them around. That's good to hear." Winry nodded. What would things be like if she didn't have the Elrics around to help her out?

"I guess I can't even or don't want to think of how different life would be without having those two around." Winry suddenly found herself wanting to change the subject. "So Miss Izumi, if you don't mind my asking... Why are you here? It couldn't just be to visit those two. I know you and Al keep in touch regularly." Izumi shifted her weight to the right side of her body, then back to the left as she tried to think of something to say. "It's Wrath, isn't it?"

"I..." She was spared the trouble of having to answer though, as Al pushed the front door open and walked over to where Izumi and Winry were standing.

"Sorry to interrupt you guys," Al said, his manners never lacking, especially since his teacher was standing right in front of him. "But..." He turned to Izumi, giving her an apologetic look. "I really need to discuss some important issues with Winry right now. Would that be okay?" Izumi nodded as she gazed out the window, staring at the setting sun as she did so.

"That's fine. I'm going to go lay down for a bit anyway. Wake me up for dinner." Winry found herself nodding when Izumi left the room and made her way upstairs; then she turned to Al, wondering exactly what was so important that he would interrupt his teacher's conversation the way he just had. An explanation never came, however, and Winry was lost in confusion.

"Winry, can we just talk for a little while? I really missed the two of you while you were gone."

"Sure, Al, whatever you want," Winry replied, smiling sweetly so as not to sound rude. Alphonse led her around to the back of the house, where there was an absolutely gorgeous veiw of the sunset. Al seemed to be enjoying himself, but Winry was still confused. "So what exactly is this about?" Al looked at her, now he too with a confused expression.

"Nothing really. I was just wondering how you felt about Ed." Winry was horror struck. She could've sworn she felt her heart skip a few beats as some of the recent events played across her mind. Was Al on to the fact she was pregnant?

No, he couldn't be. It had only been a day. Her stomach hadn't gotten any larger, so it was impossible to tell. Or had it really only been a day? She had morning sickness. You wouldn't have morning sickness until about four months after you wre pregnant, which must have meant this child was the result of her and Ed having sex about four months back. And then she looked down and noticed that maybe her stomach was gettin ga little big. Winry still wasn't even sure if that was the subject Al was on at the moment, so she decided to play stupid.

"What do you mean?" She hoped she hadn't looked too dumbstruck when she'd asked that question, but it was too late now.

Al, on the other hand, was trying to figure out exactly how to give Winry a hint concerning the proposal without actually telling her what Ed planned on doing. "Well, I guess..." He paused, unsure whether his next sentence would mean anything or not. "I guess I've just noticed something different about you Winry. Something very different." Now Winry was sure, sure Al had indeed figured out the almost obvious. She was having trouble thinking of what to say next, growing so furstrated at her current condition that as Al looked at her, the tears slowly began to roll down and off her face. Al was perplexed. Had he said something wrong? "Winry, what's..."

But before he had finished, Winry lunged forward, wrapping her arms around him and burrying her head in his right shoulder in an attempt to hold herself up, which she was having trouble doing because she was sobbing so hard.

"Please don't tell Ed! If you tell him I'm pregnant, he'll kill me!" Winry choked out between sobs as Al's mind tried to register what he'd just heard.

"Winry, you're... Pregnant?" The blond girl finally brought her head back up and nodded, wondering what would happen to her now. "That's wonderful! I'm sure Ed will be so happy to hear! You should go tell him, right away..."

"No!" Winry's voice broke into Al's excitement, officially bringing him back down to earth. "He'll kill me!"

"Are you kidding me! He'd be pleased! I can't understand why you think he'd get so angry. What are you worried about?" He'd brought up a good point. Why exactly was Winry so worried? She herself was unsure. It was true that Edward had been uncommonly nice to her on the train, but how long could that last for? "You have to tell him sometime, and I think tonight would be one of your greatest oppurtunities." Al paused, seeing how uncomfortable Winry looked while she was standing there. "Unless of course you want me to tell him for you."

"No, Al. That's alright." Al telling Ed would be even worse than her just doing it herself. She didn't know how angry he would get, and decided Al probably valued his life a lot right now.

"Then it's settled! You can tell him after dinner!"

---

Winry sat at the table that night, having barely touched her food, and stared at Ed, unwillingly trying to force her mind to come up with some excuse for being pregnant. To tell the truth, she didn't even want to think about the predicament she was in. She just couldn't seem to understand that none of this was even her fault to begin with.

Sure, she was already frightened of what the results were going to be, and to make matters worse, Al kept smiling at her, as though expecting something great to happen. Winry just figured he was out of his mind. "So teacher..." Al addressed Izumi, who had just now finished eating. "Didn't you want to see the water damange in the basement that last huge store caused us?" Much to Winry's growing terror, Izumi nodded and stood up, following her young apprentice out of the room. This left only Ed and Winry sitting in the room next to each other.

"Now that they left, want to go do something else?" Winry nodded, not knowing what else to do at the moment. It was now or never... Though never sounded a lot better to her.

Ed led her outside, to the exact same spot she'd been standing at with Al before. He hadn't said anything yet. This worried Winry that maybe he was about to pull a gun on her or something, and then she began to wonder if maybe Al had already told him. She tried to stay calm as Ed finally spoke to her. "Winry, I feel kinda bad right now..." Her head snapped imediately to the left, since Winry was now wondering exactly what Ed was talking about. "I heard you crying about something in a dream while I was asleep earlier, and I didn't do anything about it."

"It wasn't a dream..." Now it was Ed's turn to stare at her. Winry was losing her confidence. She was beginning to feel guilty, beginning to realize that since this was Ed's child, he had a right to know...

"Why were you upset?" Ed asked, looking confused. There was merely a thumping sound as Winry sank onto the ground, miserably. A few tears hit the grass before she even began to make her confession. She was a little hesitant at first, but then it all came out. Every little bit.

"Ed, please don't get angry with me, but I, I'm..." Ed knelt down next to her, patiently waiting for her to finish her sentence. "I'm pregnant with your child and it's all my fault!" Winry wailed, waiting to be struck across the face by automail. The force never came, but Ed's calming and obviously happy voice did. He stood up, grabbed her arm, and lifted her off the ground. "What... What are you doing?"

"You know Winry, that's good, because I've been waiting to ask you this for as long as I can remember..." Edward knelt back down, reaching into his pocket, just as he had done earlier that day when he'd shown his younger brother, and pulled out the ring. "Winry, will you marry me?"

She stood there for a few minutes, completely dumbstruck by Ed's last sentence. Had he really just proposed to her, after the news she'd thought was horrible? Now more tears were free flowing from her eyes, but these were in happiness, and also relief. She knelt down, and threw her arms around him. "Of course I will..." Ed returned the embrace, feeling better about life than he ever had before.

Lumina- Nice and long for everyone! I had fun with this chapter. Alright, I used the four month pregnancy thing to try and cover up for a mistake I made a few chapters back, so I hope that works... I can understand if it doesn't. I was going to try to incorporate something else into this chapter, but realized it wouldn't work, so I'll put it in a later chapter. Reviews please! (No reviews, no new chappies!)


	9. Maybe

Lumina- I am SO SORRY for the hold up. I redid the plot line and it turned out better than it was the first time, so I hope everyone's going to be happy.

Disclaimer- I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist. I wish I did though, and then I would be wealthy.

Chapter 9- Maybe

Five months now. Definately five long months. Where had the time gone to? Although that was uncertain, one thing that was for sure was that Winry was nine months pregnant with Ed's child, and neither Ed nor Al could wait. The one thing Winry couldn't wait for was the wedding. She loved the idea of all the planning, writing the guest invitations, finding a dress, picking the cake, and choosing the day. Their wedding date would be set around August, since she'd want a month or two to lose the baby weight.

Lately, all the blond girl did was sit around, relaxing in the midst of her pregnancy and dozing off to dream of her wedding day, the one time almost every woman dreamed of. Yes, everything would have to be perfect. Just as she was beginning to drift off to sleep, Winry was interrupted by Ed, who was poking and prodding at her shoulder impatiently. "Uh, Winry..."

"Hmm?" Was the only response the tired blond would reply with.

"Al and I need to go see the Colonel... He's been _bothering_ me." Winry giggled to herself. She knew the only thing that was bothering Ed was that he hadn't _invited_ the Colonel to the wedding yet. Roy Mustang did have a right to be there. After all, Edward would have taken a lot longer to become a state alchemist and find the Philosopher's stone if Roy hadn't put in a good word for him. "We're going to see _Roy_." Though Ed cringed at the sound of the name, he didn't really mean it, and Winry knew he didn't, even though it wasn't the most obvious thing in the world.

"Alright, have fun," Winry half mumbled and half spoke. Ed opened his mouth to say something else, but Winry sensed this and answered before he could even ask the question. "If I start to go into labor, I'll call the front desk right away and they'll know to contact you. Don't worry." He breathed a sigh of relief. Before finally turning away from his wife to be, Edward kissed Winry on the forehead, and patted her on the shoulder one last time.

"I trust you. Be back later." The blond left to go find his brother, who was simply waiting in the elevator for him.

---

Roy Mustang sat in his office, filling out all that damned to hell evil paperwork that always managed to pile up about three miles high and _still_ slip his mind. He was lucky when he was spared having to finish it as a knock was emitted from the door. He slammed his pen on the desk in relief as he asked, "What is it?"

"Colonel," Lieutenant Hawkeye's voice sounded from the other side of the wood barrier. "The Elrics are here to see you."

"About damn time..." Roy mumbled to himself, recalling all the gossip flying around Central of the famous Fullmetal Alchemist finally deciding to settle down with a wife. And of course, the only girl he could ever imagine being close enough to Ed to have him propose to her would have to be Miss Winry Rockbell. "Let them in."

Ed and Al entered the office, Ed with an annoyed sort of expression on his face and Al with a smirk at the way his older brother was faking. They both sat down on the black sofa, and waited for Roy to speak to them. "So finally got up the courage to tell me you've found yourself a wife, eh Edward?" Ed's face slowly began to turn bright red as Al tried to supress the snickers that were trying to make their way out. "That's good. I was worried you'd be a single little shrimp your whole life." Now that _really_ set the blond off.

"Oh, shut up, Mustang. I should be the one bragging that I'm getting married, but then you go and _ruin_ it, like you _always_ do." Alphonse let out a sigh. Things weren't going so well. It was lucky that Ed was the one to fix the conversation for once. "Well, I _was_ going to invite you to the wedding, but if you're just going to sit in the crowd and make short jokes the whole time..."

"So you're not going to invite me, Fullmetal?" Ed's eyebrow twitched.

"Well, I'm _sorry_ Colonel, but if you're going to degrade me in front of all those people, then I just don't see the point."

"Oh come on, Edward. I'll at least try to hold my tongue while the two of you stand there together, when everyone sees how much taller the bride is than you..."

"See, that's exactly what I'm talking about! Why should I invite you!" It was finally Al's turn to speak up.

"Brother, juts give him a chance?" Ed looked irritated beyond belief as he began to consider. It wasn't very often that he ignored his younger brother's requests anymore.

"Alright, you can come..." Roy smiled. "But one short joke, just one, and I swear by the end of the bows you won't have any teeth left to make smartass comments with!" Roy's smile changed to a smirk.

"So what if I make a short joke _after_ the vows?"

Al pulled his back out that day, just trying to keep Ed away from knocking all the Colonel's teeth out of his mouth at that very moment.

---

Between all of the comotion going on in Resembowl about the abducted farm animals, and the talk in Central of how the Fullmetal Alchemist Edward Elric had finally found himself a wife, the Ed lookalike walking around the city had a lot to watch out for.

Envy had dozens of people bothering him about the wedding, and he wasn't even the one organizing it. He was simply the one confirming all of the plans and setting a few of his own into motion. He just couldn't understand how Ed could enjoy this kind of publicity. It was so annoying how people were always bothering him, asking about the wedding, hell, even asking for his autograph. He'd brush a few away, but some more of them would always come back for more, not gotten rid of so easily.

"This is dispicable," He strongly stated after signing a fake looking state alchemist's pocket watch for someone. Walking into the alleyway, there was a flash of light, and all that emerged was a single black crow, flying off into the distance to find the window to the hotel a certain blond female was currently staying in.

---

A beautiful summer day; People crowded around outside, watching, waiting for what was surely to come. Boquets of flowers, gifts set aside, all in preperation for the party later in the day.

She made her way down the aisle in a pale white dress, holding her own boquet of red roses and staring at the absolutely glowing faces of her husband to be and his younger brother. The sky was a dimmed and pale purplish orange color; the sun intensifying the glow of her own face. Everyone else was glistening... Except for one person. It was, as far as Winry could tell, a young girl.

Winry got this terrible sinking feeling when she went near her, as though something was warning her to stay away. But she was curious. This girl was holding a basket with flower petals and had a veil covering her face. Winry lifted it, concerned about who she'd picked as a flower girl.

She gasped. Purple eyes stared back at her, overshadowed by blond hair; Ed's bangs and surely his eye shape as well. Something was off. "Hello, mother."

---

Winry woke up, sweating terribly and feeling some unwanted presense had entered her room. She looked down at her stomach and felt around it. Everything seemed normal, at least. "It was only a dream," She told herself, breathing a sigh of relief as she leaned back onto the couch, more relaxed. "But who was that girl..." She picked up a hand and threw it back on the couch in frustration. She tried to get past her worried feelings, but something about that dream had just felt so real...

Maybe she was just delusional from the pregnancy. Maybe there was the the doctor had told her about having hallucinations when you were about to go into labor?

Or maybe she was the one feeling guilty for having ever given Ed so much freedom with her. She had allowed him to rape her. Twice now, in fact, and she hadn't said anything about it for fear he'd kill her. This was all her fault. Maybe if she wasn't so easy, wasn't such a damn tease, Ed would never have been tempted to do any of that horrible stuff to her.

But maybe then their relationship wouldn't be at where it was today. And then she wouldn't be as happy as she was. Then again, was she really all that happy with herself right now? She couldn't take it. Asking herself all of these maybe questions really _was_ making her delusional. Almost intoxicatedly, Winry stumbled over to the only wide window in the hotel room. It was almost her height, and as she threw it open, the single, purple eyed crow that had been perched on the sill now thought it would be a good time to move.

Envy landed on the window straight across from where the blond girl was now preparing to jump. He went into a panic. _She can't kill that baby yet!_ Once again, the crow left his perch and flew into another alleyway, only to ermerge as Edward Elric. Winry didn't see him right away. At the moment, she was more concerned with whether or not she really deserved to live.

She leaned forward, ready to jump; Ready to end it all in an instant. The blond shut her eyes, put one foot out into the open.

Envy realized he couldn't hold off much longer. "Hey, Winry, that's not a very good way to get a better view of Central!" Winry practically fell out the window in shock of hearing Ed's voice. Still, she managed to catch herself before she went so far out that she wouldn't be able to grasp the window. She jumped to the floor, slamming the window closed behind her. Envy stood outside, smiling.

---

It wasn't for another hour or two that Ed and Al returned to the hotel. Winry was, by this time, trying to think up sme excuse for exactly why she'd been leaning out the window. But now a few questions were beginning to strike her as well.

When Edward had witnessed her almost suicide attempt, where had Al been? And what would have taken them an hour to go through a door and climb a few flights of stairs to get back to the room? "So did you get some sleep while we were gone?" Al sounded concerned for her health. Ed hadn't spoken yet.

"Yes, well... Kind of. It's just a bit uncomfortable being away from home like this, if you now what I mean." She hoped she sounded convincing. Al nodded, though he still looked worried.

"so Winry..." She jumped. Ed had finally spoken, and she was completely unsure of what point he was trying to get to. "Do you think we could talk for a few minutes?" Winry nodded through slight panic and fear. She hadn't known what other answer to give at the time. Two minutes later, it was Ed and Winry who stood outside the building, alone and quite open.

"Ed, what is this about?" She was slowly losing her sense.

"Oh, nothing really... I just wanted to ask you what you think it's going to be." That was all? What a joke. Although this question was also enough to provoke Winry, simply because of her very recent dream. "Well?"

"I uh... I think it's going to be a girl," Winry stammared, almost sounding uncertain of herself. Much o her suprise, competitive Edward Elric nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, so do I. What're you going to name her?" Now Winry was definately shocked.

"Don't you mean what are we going to name her?"

"No, you're the one who's doing all the work in this case, so I don't see why the name should be up to me at all... Unless of course you want me to name her." For some reason, this statement upset Winry more than ever. She completely cracked.

"Why are you being so nice to me about all of this! You don't want me to be pregnant! Unless of course that was your goal all along!" By this time, Winry was in tears, accompanied by loud sobs that were sure to get everyone's attention.

"I... What are you talking about? Since when did I say anything about not wanting a kid?"

"You know damn well what I'm talking about, you rapist!" That was her last sentence before she ran off into the distance, Ed not far behind.

---

She ran until she felt faint; about to collapse from both the pressure of the current situation and the restraints of being pregnant. Together, these elements were quite a force. Winry could only figure she'd lost Ed a few streets back, and felt no need to make sure. Just as she began to catch her breath, she heard someone emerge into the alleyway right next to her.

"Now what the hell was that all about?" She almost screamed as a pale hand draped itself across her mouth, half pulling and half silencing her in the dark shadows.

She could recognize the voice from when she'd tapped into the phone line at the military headquarters, but until now, she could only guess at the figure who accompanied it. And after combining the picture Ed had drawn while at the hospitol, her own thoughts, and a few other people's discriptions, she hadn't been too far off.

"Calm down!' Envy cooed to her, unable to console the blond. "What will make you feel better, hm? This?"

Winry watched in horror as some monster took the distinct form of Ed. And all she could do was scream while she realized the terrible mistake she'd made.

Lumina- Ooh, exciting? Sorry, this took me forever! But it was pretty long. Chapter ten should be up soon... Hopefully. Review!


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